Personally, I look for:- Newer construction (keeps deferred maintenance costs down);- At least 3 beds/2 baths (this is the minimum most families want)- Relatively small floorplan (keeps maintenance and rehab costs down)- Sturdy construction with good siding, such as brick or Hardiplank (siding replacement can be expensive)- Neighborhood where there are a lot of owner occupants and pride in ownership (neighborhoods with lots of renters tend to push down property values)- Not on a main road (keep liability issues to a minimum)- Most importantly, good cash-flow and/or ROI potential

When he has to use the bathroom, he goes to get his leash or sits in front of a door to go outside.

In Santa Barbara, these appreciation investors pay too much to acquire and thereby create unreasonable comps that make it difficult for a buy-and-hold investor to acquire the property and do a nice quality, sturdy and durable rehab for a reasonable price, let alone a bargain price.

Can these repairs be completed and the house be as sturdy as if it never needed repairs.

If you have animals, they must be crated, on a leash, or removed from the property during any visit by Landlord or his Agent.

I saw one report out of Florida that said modular homes fared better in one of the recent hurricanes than conventional stick-built homes did.Mobile homes on the other hand are not as sturdy. 

Does the dog being off the leash still seem like a problem?

However, sturdy is important.

The house is a sturdy 2b/1ba that is renting for $550/month - if I put $5K put into the property I'm confident and the numbers prove I could be getting $300+ more dollars a month.

As long as we're the reserve currency for the world, shouldn't be an issue.However, politicians love spending money no matter how large the deficit.Giving them more tax revenue would make it worse since they'll think they have that much more to spend.Unfortunately, the only leash we have on politicians in the form of taxes we don't want to pay.